It's not just what we eat that's important, but the quality of the food we are eating. A conventional grown steak and a grass-fed organic steak will produce entirely different results once inside our bodies. It is especially important to eat organic meats and animal products since toxins are stored in the body's fat. What else is coming with that conventional steak? hormones? antibiotics? pesticides and herbicides? are you sensitive to corn and soy and eating meat/eggs from chickens that have been fed corn and soy? Think about the history of what is being consumed. Basically, we try to eat everything whole in it's purest form...with no added crap!

2. Sugar is the Devil...

Ok, maybe that's a little harsh, but it's really not good for us at all, mentally or physically, and seems to be to root of all my evils! A diet high in sugar leads to chronic inflammation, lowered immunity, increased insulin, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes,
arthritis, cancer, depression & mental illness, premature aging, hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating and oh yeah, it makes us fat....kinds of makes me rethink junk food when I want to give my son a special 'treat'!

Dr. Mercola recommends no more than 25 grams of fructose/day and has a chart on his site showing grams of fructose in servings of different fruits. In order to reduce our sugar intake I've started baking snacks at home, reduced the amount of grains we consume (they convert to sugar in our bodies) and no longer give my son fruit juice or sugary drinks.

3. HEALTHY fats WILL NOT make you fat...

...or cause high cholesterol, high blood pressure or heart disease! (but sugar will!) I've always had a love affair with BUTTER!...and now I know why. I don't feel right unless I eat a ton of good healthy fat and animal protein. Find out YOUR nutritional type HERE.

Our brains need fat to function correctly, our hormones love it, every cell in our body is made of fat. I can't really put it any better than Nourishing Our Children does, so read this and I'll just note that all hydrogenated oils, processed liquid oils (corn, soy, cottonseed, safflower, canola), and vegetable oils heated for frying can lead to cancer, heart disease, immune
system dysfunction, sterility, learning disabilities, growth problems
and osteoporosis. Healthy fats come from organic sources: grass fed animals that spend their days in the sun (organic butter, lard, tallow, chicken, duck and goose fat), coconut & palm oil, extra virgin olive oil, expeller-pressed sesame, flax & hempseed oil and fish liver oils. So spread some raw, organic butter on some coconut flour toast, fry some organic ground chicken in coconut oil, use coconut oil and butter in your baking...it's delicious! If it's skim or low fat we do not put it in our mouths...our bodies are begging for healthy fat!

4. Raw Dairy Products are Better for You...

Raw foods have not been stripped of their vitamins and enzymes needed for proper digestion. This includes raw vegetables, eggs and dairy products. Raw dairy has not been subjected to pasteurization and especially homogenization. Our bodies need the fat and enzymes in raw milk to digest lactose properly. If you're drinking pasteurized nonfat milk without the fat and enzymes you are basically drinking lactose...milk sugar...and nothing else. People who are lactose intolerant can sometimes handle raw milk, which is a natural probiotic. Raw butter is one of the most nutrient dense foods we can eat.

*"Ultra-pasteurized, homogenized conventional milk is produced from cows in confinement fed a diet high in soy, grain, bakery waste, pesticide-laden citrus pulp and even pellets containing chicken manure. Pesticides, antibiotics, trans fats,
estrogens and similar toxic substances can end up in the milk.
Pasteurization or ultra-pasteurization is a quick-heat process that
destroys enzymes and immune factors, diminishes vitamin content, denatures fragile milk proteins, destroys vitamins C, B12 and B6, kills beneficial bacteria, promotes pathogens and is associated with allergies, increased tooth decay, colic in infants, growth problems in children, osteoporosis, arthritis, heart disease and cancer. Even worse, modern conventional milk has most of the nourishing butterfat removed. ...In animal studies, raw whole milk promotes healthy bone growth, normal organ formation and good disposition while pasteurized milk results in weak bones, calcification of the organs, high levels of stress and poor coping skills. Calves fed pasteurized milk do poorly, and many die before maturity."
*Nourishing Our Children

5. Add Fermented & Cultured Foods...

Our bodies need raw foods to help with cleansing and detoxification, but we also need to add a variety of cultured and fermented foods to help replenish our gut flora. Why? Our health or lack of health originates in the gut and if we heal the gut we have the ability to heal our ailments...from chronic disease to the most seemingly inconsequential complaints we may have-even nagging problems that we may take as a normal part of life or of aging such as headaches and migraines, pms, weight gain, skin problems (eczema, psoriasis, acne), allergies and asthma, lowered immunity, candidiasis, digestive problems and constipation, insomnia, learning disabilities, and on and on. Our intestinal bacteria influence every other aspect of our bodies:
brain development, mental health, memory, immunity, weight, genetic
expression and our risk of chronic and acute diseases.

What causes an imbalance in the gut flora? Drugs such as antibiotics (those we take in pill form and those we acquire from our foods), pain killers, steroid drugs, contraceptive pills, sleeping pills, heartburn pills (drug-induced gut dysbiosis is usually the most severe and the most resistant to treatment), a diet high in sugar, processed foods or high in grain fiber, infectious diseases or chronic illnesses such as diabetes, autoimmune diseases, endocrine disease and obesity, surgery, chemotherapy, hormone therapy, radiation, stress, physical exertion, age, alcoholism, pollution, exposure to toxins...A newborn child is born with a sterile gut, gut flora being attained from the mother through the birth canal and from breastmilk. Therefore, damage is passed through generations. ( Gut And Psychology Syndrome provides an in depth explanation and the GAPS diet is a great place to start for those wanting to heal.) An imbalance in gut flora is inevitable in our lifetimes which is why it is so important for us to constantly replenish the good microbes in our digestive systems.

Dr. Mercola lists some of the benefits of eating fermented and cultured foods: greater immunity (80% of our immune system is located in the digestive system), detoxification (able to draw out a wide range of impurities), and the simple fact that fermented foods contain 100 times more probiotics than a supplement.
The optimum fermented foods to eat are fermented vegetables, but also important are yogurt, kefir, kombucha and other cultured foods in order to get a wide variety of beneficial bacteria. It's important to note that commercial versions of yogurt or kefir do not
typically contain live cultures and are full of sugars that feed bad
bacteria. Start slowly with fermented foods...they are powerful detoxifiers and you will feel the affect!

5. Lessen the TOXINS...

Healthy food, check. But what about what we put ON our bodies. Would you, could you EAT your products?...because everything in them goes directly into our bloodstreams. What's in your lotion, body wash, shampoo, face cream, makeup, deoderant, toothpaste and what's it doing to your health? What chemicals/perfumes do you wash & dry your clothes with? scent your home and body with? clean your kitchen and bathroom with? fertilize your lawn with? spray weeds and insects with? remodel your house with? vaccinate your children with? All of these products are being filtered through our lungs, blood, gut...our entire body and altering our hormones as well. Making your own stuff or even shopping differently is so easy!...and can make a huge impact on your health as lessening your toxic overload will help in allowing your body to heal itself.

6. Drink PURE water!

Do you have a good source of water? Do you know how much chlorine your body absorbs in a 5 minute shower? What is fluoride doing to your health? As Dr. Mercola says, if you don't HAVE a filter, you ARE the filter! We are currently researching filters for our own home...

7. Heal Thyself! (it's really very easy)

In learning what I have pertaining to health, the most important thing I take away is the confidence that comes from knowing I have the ability to not only heal myself, but to thrive, through what I decide to put in my body...and that it isn't hard to change! If you're ready to get healthy...get some help, ask questions, subscribe to a newsletter, pick up a book, and keep learning...